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Government Building

The Greek legislature has given the green light a disputed labor reform that authorizes extended-length work shifts, despite fierce opposition and countrywide strike actions.

Government officials stated the law will modernize Greek work laws, but opposition figures from the progressive faction labeled it as a "legislative monstrosity."

Main Elements of the New Labor Law

According to the freshly approved law, annual overtime is limited at 150 hours, while the regular forty-hour workweek stays unchanged.

Officials insists that the longer shift is elective, solely affects the private sector, and can only be implemented for up to thirty-seven days annually.

Political Support and Opposition

The recent ballot was supported by lawmakers from the ruling centre-right political group, with the centre-left party – now the main resistance – voting against the legislation, while the progressive group abstained.

Worker organizations have organized multiple protests calling for the bill's withdrawal this month that halted transportation and public services to a stop.

Government Justification and Worker Safeguards

A senior official defended the bill, claiming the changes align Greek legislation with current labor-market conditions, and alleged critics of misinforming the citizens.

These regulations will give employees the option to take on additional hours with the current company for 40% higher pay, while ensuring they will not be fired for declining extra hours.

The measure follows European Union labor rules, which cap the mean workweek to forty-eight hours including extra hours but allow flexibility over 12 months, as stated by the administration.

Critical Viewpoints and Union Responses

However, critics have charged the government of weakening employee protections and "driving the country back to a medieval work era." They say Greek workers already put in more time than the majority of Europeans while receiving lower pay and still "face financial difficulties."

The public-sector union said variable shifts in reality mean "the abolition of the standard workday, the destruction of family and social life and the legalisation of excessive labor."

Recent Labor Reforms and Economic Background

In 2024, the country introduced a six-day work schedule for specific industries in a attempt to stimulate economic growth.

New laws, which came into effect at the start of July, permit workers to work up to 48 hours in a workweek as opposed to forty.

EU Work Data and National Financial Indicators

• Throughout the European Union in 2024, the highest average hours were observed in the Hellenic Republic, followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Romania (38.8).
• The lowest working week in the union is in the Netherlands (32.1), as per Eurostat.
• As of January 2025, the nation's official base pay stood at nine hundred sixty-eight euros a month, ranking it in the lower tier among EU countries.
• Joblessness, which had reached a high at 28% during the economic downturn, was 8.1% in the summer compared with an EU average of five point nine percent, data from the statistical office indicate.
• The country is improving since its prolonged debt crisis, which ended in 2018, but salaries and quality of life remain among the poorest in the EU.